MORE STORMS ON TAP...

Rounds of showers and thunderstorms have been coming through the region to start the weekend and more is on the way. There were some strong storms too with hail and heavy rain. Storms will continue overnight into early Sunday morning:

The atmosphere will attempt to recharge in the afternoon, and if it does then some additional strong storms will be possible Sunday afternoon. The highest chance will be into Illinois:

The risk has shifted further southeast due to the activity Saturday that will force the boundary further to the south on Sunday. Storms will be capable of producing large hail and tornadoes cannot be ruled out either:

I'll be honest -- the models have not been handling the storms well so far this weekend so you'll want to make sure you're staying aware of any watches or warnings that get issued Sunday in the afternoon. Temperatures will be in the upper 70s to near 80 in Iowa and into the 80s to the south:

Including Saturday's rain, this is what some of the totals may look like by the end of the event late Sunday night:

Even though rain on the weekend can be disruptive, it's not all bad news... the rain is desperately needed in spots... though it's a bit late in the season to really be of help to farmers. This is the latest Drought Monitor that was released this past week:

In the red - extreme drought - over a foot of rain is needed! Of course, we don't want all of that rain at once and it's not going to get fixed anytime soon... but we'll take any help we can get before the ground freezes.

We'll also take the rain with a fairly quiet week up ahead. Temperatures remain above normal to start on Monday:

It gets even warmer on Tuesday:

And then fall shows up on Wednesday:

Right on cue for the equinox on Thursday. We'll talk more about that tomorrow!

RK